We all have evolved financially in the past few years to realize how credit and debit cards have proved to be a financial boon to us, and we have the liberty to manage and plan our budget wisely. Similarly, for business organizations and entrepreneurs, using corporate cards has helped them manage their expenses and provide a better view of the accounts administration. Medium and large corporations generate revenue of more than four million dollars, and it provides visibility of funds and undisturbed cash flow.
It functions just like any credit card, the only difference is that the debited account belongs to the company, not the individual employee using the card. If an employee travels on a business trip organized by his company and needs to perform funds transactions for tickets, stay, etc. The employees can do all this without putting those charges on their accounts. This makes it way more simplified than the complex process of bearing those expenses and then waiting for the approval of the reimbursement of that expense.
How can any organization optimize using a corporate card to manage employee expenses?
- Issuing virtual cards to maximum employees: A few department heads are designated with corporate cards, and the employees under them must manually prepare the expense report. It is tedious for them, and they might have to wait for the holidays to track the card expenses. Handing over the cards to the majority of the employees also doesn’t work well realistically, but issuing virtual cards for one-time costs can be the most convenient and feasible solution.
- Invoices need to be managed well: Misplacing receipts is a common thing. Moreover, the point of sale is willing to issue receipts only a few times. All this creates trouble in managing the invoices generated through the company credit card, but if the company uses an automated system to manage expenses integrated into a mobile app. Then the users can take a picture of the receipts and upload them on the spot.
- Real-time visibility for proper management: If the purchase statements of card transactions are generated monthly or weekly, it becomes problematic for the finance teams to flag suspicious or out-of-policy purchases. If the employees cannot prove the legitimacy of the purchase and are not reimbursed for the incurred cost, it might give rise to undesirable circumstances. Corporate cards must be synced with the automated expense solution to provide real-time visibility and transparency on spending limits, transaction types, etc.
- Avoiding fraudulent activities: Malicious activities happening on the web are no longer a threat unknown. When it comes to accessing card details and stealing funds without even holding the card physically, hackers have already mastered this art. Similarly, there may be employees with nefarious intentions. Artificial intelligence tools are embedded in management software to combat such threats. Some tools regulate extracting data from OCR (Optical Character Recognition).
Corporate cards benefit organizations, and employees are empowered through them in several ways, such as streamlining their reimbursement of expenses. They gain the authority to spend where they see fit and feel accountable for their financial decisions.